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date: 07 June 2020

Thorpe, Jim

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professional golfer, was born Jimmy Lee Thorpe in Roxboro, North Carolina, the ninth child in a family of twelve children, to Elbert Thorpe Sr. and his wife, Vivian. Although not related to him, Thorpe was named after the Native American Olympian Jim Thorpe, who won gold medals representing the United States in the pentathlon and decathlon in 1912 in Stockholm, Sweden. Hence, he is best known as Jim Thorpe.

The senior Thorpe was a greenkeeper in Roxboro at a country club The Thorpes lived in a small house near either the second or eighth fairway at the country club the sources being unclear as to which is correct One reason that Thorpe is such a good golfer is the fact that he is very muscular He first developed those muscles hauling mortar to help his father build the club s course greens While Thorpe and his siblings ...

A version of this article originally appeared in African American National Biography.

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Printed from Oxford African American Studies Center. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).